


Heal the wounds inside your mind

by Prawnperson



Category: Don’t Starve (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Gravedigging, Insanity, Lap Sitting, What a mess of tags, shadow creatures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-31 09:48:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19423498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prawnperson/pseuds/Prawnperson
Summary: Please don’t neglect your sanity meter, guys. Think of what it does to your poor character.





	Heal the wounds inside your mind

Grave digging is no fun.

It’s not meant to be, WX-78 supposes. It’s meant to be unsettling. Even they find it rather creepy, shovelling through layers upon layers of sodden earth, waiting for the shovel to hit disintegrating, water logged bones. Walani hates it, and they know this, and that’s why they become incredibly concerned whenever she sits down on the ground and hides in her hands, muttering something incomprehensible.

WX walks over to her and gently places their hands on her shoulders, her alarmed flinch not going unnoticed.

“WALANI.”

She snaps her head up and WX takes in how...distraught she looks. Her hair is matted with dirt and messy from where she’s been tugging it out of her bunches. Her clothes are askew, again, covered in mud, and her eyes are wide and frightened.

“CAN YOU SEE THE SHADOWS?”

Walani nods and WX eyes her with something they’ve come to recognise as empathy. A strange, jumpy version of it from a strange, jumpy module, but empathy no less. They pull her in slightly closer to them using the grip on her shoulders and are only slightly alarmed whenever she presses her face into their chest. WX shifts to wrap their arms around her, and Walani hiccups.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?”

They ask, shifting her so that she’s curled up. 

No response.

They can’t see the shadows. Not fully, anyway, but they’ve had experience with them before. They all have. Walani has never been quick to fall victim to the whispers of the darkness, but when she does finally snap, it’s awfully hard to pull her back.

WX wants desperately to help.

With no small deal of shifting and squirming, they struggle their back pack off-whilst keeping her cradled in their lap-and search through it to the wrapped food at the bottom. They untie the bristly string securing it one handed and retrieve the cooked cactus flesh from within it.

“THEY CAN’T GET YOU WHILE I’M HERE. YOU’RE SAFE.”

Walani cautiously peeks out to find WX offering the grilled succulent to her. She takes it from them and bites part of it off, wincing at the bitter taste of it. The pocked flesh tastes almost as bad as anti-venom or wet goop, but it does soothe some of the throbbing pain running from the base of her spine to her temples.

“THAT SHOULD STOP YOUR HEAD HURTING. DON’T STOP EATING IT.”

She stares at them blankly before continuing to nibble at it, WX occasionally drumming their fingers against the small of her back. Walani sighs through her nose, the jitters in her chest subsiding with each bite she takes. She keeps her eyes locked on WX who stares almost sternly down at her, supervising her as she eats.

“They’re not as bad...”

She mutters. The hovering creatures are still terrifying, yes, but they’re not quite as looming anymore. They seem to have backed off a bit. WX takes their shovel and mounts it on their back, Walani moving away to arrange herself again.

“WE WON’T DIG ANYMORE TODAY, I SHOULDN’T THINK.”

The sun is still high in the sky, and part of their programming is protesting strongly to wasting a fair chunk of the day, but that’s not really very important in comparison to what’s happening to Walani right now. They brush some tangled fly aways from her eyes and fix them back into the hair bands. 

“What do we do now, then? It’s too early to go back.”

She watches with fascination as WX smirks and continues finger combing her messy hair.

“WHY DON’T YOU TELL ME ABOUT THE SEA.”

“What?”

They hate the sea. Hate it with a passion, as they do all bodies of water. Even from their first meeting she’s known this, and yet here they stand, asking her quite plainly to discuss it.

“TELL ME ABOUT SURFING. I’D LIKE TO KNOW MORE.”

It’s an odd request, certainly, but she loves talking about this. Her love for surfing is deeper than the ocean. The feel of it, the sound of it, hell, even the taste of the salt. There’s no part about it she doesn’t enjoy. The world’s becoming slightly less dull. WX looks at her, patiently awaiting her response.

“WELL? HOW WOULD YOU START A GOOD DAY ON THE WATER?”

Walani thinks for a moment before breaking into a small smile.

“Well, I always look for a clear spot to set off from...”

**Author's Note:**

> Please let WX be sweet to their gf.


End file.
